At least 600 Russians and Europeans are fighting alongside the rebels battling the forces of Syrian President Bashar Assad, Russian President Vladimir Putin said during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

“It is known that there are at least 600 people from Russia
and Europe fighting along with opposition forces in Syria,”
Putin said during the Forum’s plenary session.

Putin reiterated that weapon supplies to the Syrian rebels
violate international law, and threaten to further destabilize
the war-torn state.

"Why supply weapons to militant forces in Syria when we are
not sure of the composition of these groups?” he said, adding
that it remains unclear where these arms will end up.

"If the United States ... recognizes one of the key Syrian
opposition organizations, al-Nusra, as terrorist ... how can one
deliver arms to those opposition members?" Putin said.
"Where will (those weapons) end up? What role will they
play?"

Russia’s Foreign Ministry has also criticized the supply of arms
to the rebels in separate remarks to AP and Bloomberg: “The
problem is that the weapons are coming to the region anyway,”
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

“And if you take, you know, stock of what is being used by the
opposition you would find a lot of arms shipped by the West,
including the US, to the Gulf countries and to other countries in
the region,” he said. “So, this smuggling continues and
this is very dangerous. Because the leading opposition force on
the ground is very extremist.”

Putin’s remarks echo a statement made by French Interior Minister
Manuel Valls earlier in June, when he said that more than 600
European nationals, including 120 from France, are fighting in
Syria.

At the time, Russia said that around 200 of its citizens were
fighting in Syria alongside rebel militants as part of a
self-proclaimed ‘Caucasus Emirate' under the flag of Al Qaeda,
and that there were “various organizations affiliated with
it.”

Prior to that, Belgium announced in April it had detained the
leader of Sharia4Belgium, radical Salafist organization that was
allegedly recruiting volunteers to fight in the Syrian civil war.

Britain was one the first Western countries to raise concerns
over European Muslims joining the Syrian rebels. The Home Office
voiced fears that scores of UK citizens fighting in Syria may use
their military know-how to wreak havoc when they return home, and
carry out terror attacks.

Russia slammed the move, but in response was criticized for its contract to deliver
advanced S-300 long-range air defense systems to Damascus. Moscow
maintains that all arms supplies to Syria are being carried out
under a contract signed with the country several years ago.

"Russia, in the framework of existing international law, in
open and transparent contracts, supplies weaponry to the current
and the legitimate government of Syria," Putin said at the
Economic Forum.